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Show 168 yards of river gravel inside Arches National Monument, the arguments changed - and so did the perspective of the news coverage. The Salt Lake City-based Silver Eagle Mining company held a valid claim along the Colorado River inside the southwestern boundary of the monument created by Johnson's proclamation. Both local newspapers quoted company officials who argued the project would bring employment to nearby communities and boost the local economy with an estimated eight to ten million dollars' worth of gravel extracted over ten years. 51 6 The state newspapers that so often gave voice to those who opposed creation of national parks now focused on opponents of mining. National Park Service officials were the primary sources describing the proposed mining area as "the most used and mos1 scenic area of the national monumcnt.'.s 17 If mining operations were not prevented, one Arches official said, it would leave "a scar that will never go away." 518 Even the editorial page of the Deseret News, long a supporter of multiple uses in national monuments and parks, denounced the mining proposal: "While the value of industry is recognized, this plan seems clearly against the national park-monument concept, against the interests ofbo1h Utahns and tourists. lfindus1ry is allowed 10 build roads and conduct mining operations inside national parks or monuments the entire parkmonument concept is endangered ... There arc places for this, but not inside a national Dick Wilson, .. Mine Will Mar Arches Area, Officials Fear," Deseret News, November 13, 1969, Bl ; Salt lake Tribune, '"Park Service Fights S.L. Miners' Plan to Build Road Through Arches Area," November 14, 1969, CIO. 1 16 m Wilson, ··Mine Will Mar Arches," Deseret News, November 13, 1969. m Sufi lake Tribune, ''Park Fights Miners' Plan," November 14, 1969. |
